Religion

Part of a series about the people of Outlook.

• Outlook Society
• Tribes
• Strains
• Religion and Spirituality
• Literacy
• Artificial Intelligence
• Character Creation

Belief systems amongst the Tribes of the Outlook vary greatly, there is no real homogeneity, and it’s easy to find a heterodoxy to every established opinion. We’ve provided some examples of belief systems below. Feel free to adapt your own within these loose guidelines.

Common Religious Themes

• The Importance of Individuality
• Anthropomorphic Entities
• The Community
• Group Meditation

Common Objects of Worship

AIs

Powerful, or at least strange, entities, which carry out purposes not easily understood, and often quite tangential to what members of the Outlook consider important. “Ay-Eye” is the name they give themselves, but may often not recognise that this is an abbreviation of “Artificial Intelligence”. They can be called “Watchers” “Observers” “Spirits” “Animators” etc.

You may invent your own AI or follow a predefined one; predefined AIs include the Diamond, obsessed with obedience and preservation of the Tribe; the curious That Which Is Freely Given; and Melody, a mysterious deity of healing each described here.

The Great Depths

People know about the wide waters, and know that very few AI wander therein. This is an example of a natural feature that can be anthropomorphised.

The Citadel

It is not uncommon for Tribes of the Outlook to revere the Citadel as some form of deity.

Those Who Paved The Way

The supposed designers of the AI constructs that are regularly seen in The Outlook and beyond- views on their divinity can vary greatly.

The Divine Empress of the Techgnostic Network

A whispered name that some of the more AI focused tribes may mention before clutching their medium- she is allegedly a humanoid creature who AIs follow and revere, even some of the most advanced AIs that are known to exist. Her existence is a matter of dispute outside Tribes which worship her.

The Shaper

Seen as a force which causes mutations. Oddys are often viewed as their presence made manifest in this world.

Nature of Ka

• A person's Ka can house AI
• Housing an AI in a person's Ka has an effect on personality

Owing to the personal nature of spirituality in the Outlook, a consensus on what precisely Ka is has never really developed. The concept is really tied together by the fact that Ka can house an AI and such things have effects on one's personality.

Other than that, Ka is many things to many people. Some will say it is the soul of a person, while others will claim that it's simply the ability of a heart or the stomach to house an AI and this gives people heartburn or indigestion. Opinions on the matter vary almost as much as the degree to which people are bothered by said views.

In the Diamond tribe, the Ka is usually referred to as Essense and it is considered separable from the body. Members of the Diamond tribe spent most of their life in the pursuit of extracting their Ka and housing it in a black box. The Mutati on the other hand tell of a soul, an invisible circle around one's heart, that links humans of all strains together, and say that this is what other Tribes call the Ka.

The limits of worship

• Focus on veneration rather than hate
• Belief systems exist within framework the Outlook society
• Elements of OOC religions are off limits

No-one’s religion is “attack X strain on sight”. Distrusting, or assuming a role of a particular strain is more common, within limits. What’s most common is a belief on the role of Techgnosis or Psionics within the world, which can be more extreme, but the same limit applies here; the Tribes have co-existed, and a belief system that’ll lead to destruction of one or other group would be unable to flourish

No parodying or mimicking real-world religions. Although elements of real-world religion might seep in, any references that are recognisable at a glance, and especially anything disrespectful, are inappropriate.